View full sizeSarah A. Miller | The Flint JournalTrash lines the street on Friday along E. Eddington Avenue in Flint waiting for the weekly garbage collection.FLINT, Michigan — His formal name is Rattus norvegicus, but here in Flint we know him intimately as the rat.

The greasy, gnawing rodent feeds at night, burrows beneath homes and garages and eats everything no matter how disgusting.

But its delicacy of choice? Fresh household trash.

The preferred diet of the rat — and other pesky vermin — has some residents worried that a city decision to collect trash every other week will cause an explosion of the local rodent population.

Rats are attracted to exposed garbage, which could become a serious health hazard if people store trash near their homes, said Genesee County Health Officer Mark Valacak.

Rats can carry several communicable diseases, can fit through an opening a half of an inch wide and are known to bite, he said.

“Just wait for the mice and things to come,” said Flint resident Charlie Luster, 68. “People aren’t going to want (trash) in their home, and they’ll put it out on the side of the road.”

Beginning Monday, residential trash pickup will be reduced to every other week, meaning household waste in most cases will be sitting around for an extra week before crews are able to collect it — and it will be up to residents to make sure it’s properly stored.

Storing trash properly also will cut down on odors and deterioration of wet garbage, he said.

“I’m personally going to have to buy two more trash cans with secure lids,” Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said. “We’re going to have to do some new things in new ways.”

Walling said the trash cuts will save the city about $20,000 a week and more than $1 million in the first full year. The city is trying to trim a projected $8 million deficit.

News reports show cash-strapped cities across the nation are considering similar cuts or privatization of trash collection to save money.

Still, residents can’t help but picture a stinky summer with bags of trash rotting in the sun or fear for an increase in illegal dumping on Flint’s hundreds of vacant lots.

The city of Flint is well-acquainted with the rat, having battled large rat populations off and on since at least the 1930s, according to Flint Journal files.

In 1969, a Journal article cited a Genesee County Health Department statistic that one in every 20 Flint houses was infested with rats. Stories of rodents burrowing into cupboards or languishing in baby cribs made headlines as the city received federal funds to conduct rat studies and hunt the rodents down.

But even though a rodent problem could be magnified by reduced trash pickup, responsibility for keeping trash under wraps lies with residents, officials said.

Removing rats’ source of food and shelter is key to keeping their numbers from climbing.

Valacak points out that Toronto has an effective every-other-week trash service because of residents’ cooperation.

“We really need help from everyone in trying to get things done with fewer resources,” he said.

“These are difficult budget times both in the city and county and state, and we’re having to make tough choices.”

But Luster said he’s worried about the trash of irresponsible neighbors, not his own.

“They take their trash and throw it on other people’s property,” he said. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

Walling said the city will have a code enforcement plan in place as early as next month and will be partnering with the Genesee County Land Bank’s stimulus-funded cleanup team.

The city also is waiting to hear about federal grant dollars to jump-start a curbside recycling program. Until then, he urges residents to take advantage of volunteer recycling programs to reduce the amount of trash that has to sit on the street.

“We’re working toward Flint being more clean and more green than ever before,” he said.

Flint’s new trash pickup plan divides the city into two zones — red and blue.

Many households in the city already should have been sent information on which zone they are in.

Residents who live in the red zone will have their trash picked up every other week beginning Monday. Pickup every other week for those in the blue zone will begin April 5.

The day of the week when residents currently have their trash picked up will not change, Communications Director Dawn Jones said.

“It will be difficult to live with, and I won’t like it,” said county Commissioner John Northrup, who lives in Flint. “But I suspect we have to do it.”